Thursday, January 01, 2009

Hezekiah’s Tunnel Q&A

The Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review carried an intriguing article that suggested that workers used sound signals from above in determining direction while carving Hezekiah’s Tunnel. The apparent “consensus” theory that they followed a natural crack always seemed implausible to me, and thus I am interested in learning of other possibilities.

A number of readers sent questions about the article and one of the scientists of the study responds in an online-only article. Questions that he answers include:

How does Hezekiah’s Tunnel compare with the water tunnels of Megiddo and Hazor?

How could sound signals pinpoint direction through more than 100 feet of bedrock?

Would they really have had a 'good geological hammer,' or whatever his exact words were, in antiquity? I'm ignorant as to what exactly that is, but it sounds rather modern. (That, according to his online article, is what they used to pound from the tunnel to earth and vice versa, to establish location.)

I have read the article and the comments here and the question I have relates to the statement of water flowing uphill. The natural crack theory might possibly allow for the flow of the water downhill but the sounds listened for on ground level would not allow for the elevation. What is the thinking on this issue.